TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Both governments have confirmed that direct flights between Taiwan and the Czech Republic will be launched in July for the first time in history.

During an interpellation session of the Legislative Yuan on March 3, Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) was asked to provide a progress report on plans to establish direct flights between Taiwan and Czech Republic. He said the ministry is working toward the goal of commencing flights in July this year and would be twice weekly between Taoyuan Airport and Prague Airport.

Addressing concerns about how Taiwan will be able to attract tourists following the pandemic, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) said Taiwan has a good relationship with Eastern European countries, including Slovakia and the Czech Republic. However, he observed the only direct route near those countries is through Frankfurt, Germany.

Chiu said Taiwan has been in talks with the Czech Republic about direct flights to Prague. He then asked whether the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) could direct China Airlines (CAL) to negotiate direct flights to Prague as soon as possible.

Wang said Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) attaches great importance to this matter and the MOTC aims to commence direct flights to the Czech Republic in July. He said Taiwan received a commercial aviation right and the application for each flight information region is in progress.

Also on March 3, You uploaded a post to Facebook announcing direct flights between Taiwan and the Czech Republic, which Czech Republic Senate President Milos Vystrcil had expressed great interest in, will begin in July. You said the MOTC and CAL have been evaluating the direct route for five years.

You wrote that after meeting with officials in the Czech Republic in July last year, he asked ministries to expedite the process and establish direct service between the two countries. In late February, Wang informed him the route is expected to take off in mid-July this year.

On March 8, former Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib tweeted there would be direct flights between Prague and Taipei. Hrib wrote that he was honored to participate in the negotiations with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the former Mayor of Taipei Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), and CAL to establish this transport link.

He closed by saying, “I’m glad it finally worked out!”

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